Boulder teen Matt Moniz had just arrived at the 17,500-foot Mount Everest Base Camp when the devastating earthquake of April 25 struck in Nepal.

He dodged a deadly wall of snow to survive unscathed, and now he remains in that country, teaming with climbing colleagues to provide much-needed relief.

Moniz, whose Climb 7 team had intended to reach the top of Everest, followed by a summit of Lhotse and an attempt to ski the Lhotse Couloir, now has equally lofty — but different — goals.

On "Beyond the Edge," the National Geographic adventure blog, Moniz has posted the latest about his activities, describing the "remarkably powerful plan to help the people of Nepal get back to their feet" hatched with his climbing partners from their base at the Hotel Yak and Yeti in Kathmandu.

"Our strategy is grassroots," Moniz wrote. "Hire porters from the affected villages to carry donated relief supplies to remote villages in the high impact areas. We call the plan 'Nepal Relief, Building a Path to Recovery.'"

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Moniz, 17, put himself on the map as an accomplished alpinist at an early age. As a 12-year-old Platt Middle School student, he was honored as one of National Geographic's 10 Adventurers of the Year. He, with father Mike, climbed, walked and even biked to the high points in each of the 50 states in record time — 43 days, 3 hours, 51 minutes and 9 seconds.

His new venture, mandated by the catastrophic conditions that now surround him, is also ambitious.

In his blog post, Moniz described "a simple Keynesian equation that works, donations = relief + jobs. The money stays local and helps accelerate the recovery. The porters are also re-establishing the trail systems."

He added, "In rough numbers, with 500 porters we can move about 12,000 kilograms of relief supplies for approximately 60 percent of the cost of helicopter support."

Moniz also outlined a goal to pay a "premium daily carry rate" to porters and to fix loads at a "reasonable level," particularly due to tough trail conditions.

"With all the generous contributions of aid from around the world, nearly all the money we have raised goes directly to paying porters," he wrote. "We see a wonderful outcome here, the money stays in the villages and helps them purchase supplies to rebuild."

'They need our help and friendship '

Reached by email Wednesday in the middle of the night Nepal time, Moniz wrote: "We're in a remote village called Laprak. We're deep in the Manaslu region. Long day yesterday of trekking with supplies over some difficult terrain. 6,000 vertical of gain!

"In the morning we're heading down with our team paramedic to a small village to help some elderly people who were injured in the first earthquake."

Nepal suffered a second significant blow Tuesday, when a magnitude-7.3 quake struck the area between Kathmandu and Mount Everest, killing dozens of people and spreading more fear and misery through the region.

"This second major quake has really taken any sense of hope away from the Nepali people," Moniz said in Wednesday's email. Previously, "There was just a sense of optimism that we can overcome this disaster, the world is supporting us, we can rebuild.

"Yesterday's 7.3 earthquake has ripped the hope away from the people as violently as it shook the country. They need our help and friendship more than ever."

Just last week, Moniz and climbing partner-mentor Willie Benegas had gone to Zurich to participate in fundraisers organized there by philanthropist Thomas Lines, clearing more than $40,000 for the people of Nepal. They had been met there by Moniz's father, also an accomplished climber.

"I had pretty firm instructions from my wife to return her son home," Mike Moniz said. "I bought two tickets for Matt. One was a flight from Zurich to Kathmandu, and the other was a ticket to Colorado. And I said, 'It is totally up to you.'"

Mike Moniz added, "He struggled with it a bit. He misses his friends and family here, but the calling to be there was too big. He has been going there since he was 9 years old."

'Carrying water pipes instead of ice axes'

And so Matt Moniz remains in Nepal deeply invested in relief work, with his next most likely return date being May 25, roughly the start of the Himalayan monsoon season.

"I'm proud of him," his father said. However, he added, "I'm scared. I don't feel good, necessarily, that things are as safe as I would like them. It's very active there."

Matt Moniz encourages those who want to help the people of Nepal to contribute to the dZi Foundation, dzi.org, based in Ridgway, to invest in the villages and provide employment, relief and reconstruction.

"Just helping people get back to work is big," he said.

Anyone wondering how a 17-year-old might stand academically, in the midst of a prolonged stay in Nepal with school still in session, probably does not need to worry about it.

His Boulder High School teachers "have been great at helping me maintain a balance between climbing and school," he said.

He said he is also a concurrent student at the University of Colorado, studying molecular biology, and will be applying to colleges this fall.

Moniz was one of eight Colorado climbers on Everest when the first quake occurred. They were not among the 19 known to have been killed by quake-related avalanches in the single deadliest day in the mountain's history.

This is the second consecutive year the teenager has been blocked from adding Everest to his growing list of conquests. Last year, his team was denied by an avalanche near base camp that killed 16 Nepalese guides.

When will he reach the world's highest summit?

"Honestly, I've not even thought when I'll return to climb," he said Wednesday. "This year my pack is carrying water pipes instead of ice axes."

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